I recently had the pleasure misfortune of going to Las Vegas for a weekend trip. I went there to see The Eagles at The Sphere. The venue was really great, and the band was good, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.
We need to talk about casinos.
I just turned 21 a few months ago, so trying out casino games was something I planned to do on this trip. Gambling isn't exactly appealing to me, but it's something that you feel the need to try at some point. I had never been on a casino floor before this trip, so it was interesting to experience in real-life what I had only ever seen in movies and media.
Note to self: Do not invent the smell-o-vision.
The thing that nobody tells you about Vegas, and what they never show in movies, is that everybody smokes. Even if you're not holding a cigarette in your hand, you're smoking, because the air is that bad. There is nowhere I have wanted to leave faster than that casino floor. It was absolutely disgusting.
I am part of a generation that grew up after smoking ads. Nobody my age thinks that smoking is cool. Some of my generation vapes, sure, but tobacco is just so awful. It's obvious to me that casinos are targeting older people to gamble, but what they're really doing is turning away future potential gambling addicts revenue.
The smoke doesn't stop at the floor, either. At the hotel I stayed at, the hallways to the rooms also smelled like tobacco smoke, even when nobody was actively smoking in the hallways. It was so bad that I went to a local pharmacy and bought a pack of N95 masks, and even that wasn't enough to fully block the smell.
I literally went to Vegas with money that I planned to spend gambling, and casinos managed to make the experience of giving my money to them so bad, that I didn't even do any gambling. Foot gun.
Turns out, there is only ONE (1) smoke-free casino on the strip - Park MGM. I didn't go there, because the idea of being so desperate to gamble that you drive to a different resort is just… not my thing.
Okay, blah blah blah, you hate smokers, we get it. Do you have literally anything else to say about Vegas?
Well here's something I learned on this trip - casinos will actually loan you money for you to spend gambling. It's called "Casino Credit", and it's exactly what it sounds like.
I know that casinos only pretend to care about gambling addictions with their "call this phone number if you're an addict" signs, but this practice is just so blatantly disgusting, I still cannot wrap my mind around it. How these casino executives can live with themselves, I cannot fathom. Why such a thing is even legal, I do not know.
I know that casinos are soul-sucking corporations who exploit the addictions of vulnerable people, but there is something so undeniably evil about a casino lending you more money to lose, so that not only have you lost all your cash, but you're in debt, too.
I really worry about these gambling apps that have recently taken hold. Before, to gamble, you had to schlep out to some building and give the casino your physical cash. Now, all you have to do is download an app and use virtual currency. No disgusting smoking smell, no tangible feeling of handing over your money, and no friction to actually doing it.
Before these apps, people still managed to gamble away their entire lives. I'm terrified of how easy it must be to do that now. Some people are really vulnerable to the exploitative mechanics of gambling, and these awful companies are casting a much wider net. What a travesty.
Is there a way to run an "ethical" casino, one that cuts off addicts before they lose their homes? Theoretically, maybe, but such a casino wouldn't make enough money to build a 50-story mega-resort with a $2.3B theater-sphere attached to it, or a half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower, or a three-story fire-breathing dragon.
There's a lot to be revolted or amazed by in a city built upon the exploitation of others, but I guess that that's Sin City for ya.